Jules Caranta was announced as one of the six new additions to the Red Bull Junior Team last summer following a strong performance at the Red Bull Driver Search. Before his first outing in Eurocup-3 with Campos Racing, the 16-year-old opened up on the experience of being selected and the title fight in his maiden French Formula 4 season that helped him get there.

By Perceval Wolff-Taffus

Pierre Gasly, Isack Hadjar and Jules Caranta have three traits in common: all three are French, all three finished third in France’s entry-level junior single-seater series, and all three were picked up by the Red Bull Junior Team.

Gasly and Hadjar now race in F1 for Alpine and RB respectively as graduates of the junior programme. While they got to third in French F4 via late-season surges, Caranta – who hopes to join them in F1 one day – did so through season-long consistency.

With four wins, 11 podiums and 20 points finishes in all 20 races of the 2024 season, series rookie Caranta was a contender for the French F4 title until the final race of the year. He eventually finished 14 points shy of champion Honda protégé Taito Kato and eight behind runner-up Yani Stevenheydens.

“I lacked a bit of racing experience, which is normal,” Caranta explained to me on Twitch. “Yani had one year in single-seaters already and Taito had driven a lot in Japan, I believe. But I’m still happy with my performance even if we can always do better.… Of course, there were several moments where I made some mistakes, but that’s normal. ”

Caranta’s dominant win in the rain at the Nürburgring could be considered his greatest performance in single-seaters so far. The turning point of his career, however, may have come a few days later in Jerez at the Red Bull Driver Search program.

“I was directly contacted by Red Bull by phone. They offered me a test in Jerez. At the beginning, they didn’t know if they would have me drive in an F4 or in a GP3 car. In the afternoon, I arrived at the track and I did my seat fit in the F4, so I did one session in F4, and just after that, they told me to do a seat fit in the GP3 car for the day after. It was a bit of a surprise but also something quite special to do a seat fitting in a GP3.”

Red Bull motorsport adviser Helmut Marko was present at Jerez to evaluate the drivers and was impressed by Caranta’s times in the GP3, which the Frenchman said were the fastest of anyone during this session. What sealed the deal?

“It was my adaptation to the GP3,” he answered. “I had never driven any car other than the F4. To perform immediately with the car was not easy, but I think it’s how I impressed him the most.”

It didn’t take long for Caranta to know the results of the selection. Marko called him into his office the same day to talk about his performance – and his future.

“He immediately told me in which category I would race,” Caranta said. “There were no more places in F3, so I believe he chose Eurocup-3 also because of the team. If I continue with Red Bull when I rise up the ranks, it will likely be with Campos because Red Bull and Campos work together a lot.”

“Eurocup-3 also has a car that is more performant than the FRECA, with more aero. It’s tougher to drive, so it’s closer to an F3 car. It prepares us better for the move to F3.”

In French F4 last year, Caranta was part of the centrally run FFSA Academy programme. At Campos, the Frenchman will also join a dedicated race team for the first time since last winter, when he raced with R-ace GP in F4 UAE.

“FFSA is different because there are several drivers for one engineer. We work differently. In a team, every driver has his engineer. I was already used to this when I raced with R-ace GP.

”And in my karting years, I always used to speak English, sometimes Italian when I was in Italian teams, so I’m not disoriented,” he said.

“I’m starting to learn Spanish too, so I hope my Spanish will be good at the end of the season.”

Caranta has a clear ambition for 2025: the Eurocup-3 title.

“I will also have to beat my teammates, but they won’t be my only rivals. There will be all the other drivers from MP or Drivex or other teams,” he said. “My objective remains the title no matter what happens, no matter who my rivals are. If my rivals perform better than I do, I will have to work even more to be in front of them in the championship.”

Before the start of the season in May at Spielberg, Caranta was also announced for the new Eurocup-3 Spanish Winter Championship, a three-round series that runs from February to March. 

“My main objective for the winter series will be to prepare for Eurocup-3. If I can fight for the title, I will do so, but first I need to get experience with this new car and also master the push-to-pass system, which is completely new for me.”

The first round at Jerez last week was also used as preparation by Campos F3 drivers Nikola Tsolov and Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak, who have both raced in the main series previously.

“Even if they are experienced drivers, it’s always possible to beat them,” Caranta said. “I will have to give it my all to do so.”

A few days after this interview, at Jerez, Caranta did just that. Following an impressive recovery in the sprint race from 24th to 10th and the fastest lap to boot after stalling on the grid, he took the lead off the line in the final race of the weekend from second on the grid. 

Midway through the race, teammate Tsolov pushed him wide while trying an overtake on him, ending his own race and causing damage to Caranta’s front-right suspension. Their contretemps let MP’s Maciej Gladysz through, but Caranta still managed to bring home his damaged car second to take his and Campos’ maiden podium in the series.

Caranta sits sixth in the standings as the lead Campos driver ahead of the second round in Portimão on February 22 and 23.

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency